Topic: New Project!!

[Simon]

Thank you Sean.    Bugger off Sandra!  >

I'm waiting in most of today for the delivery, so I hope it does flippin' arrive!  Yesterday, I drove 12 miles to the Amtrak depot to pick up the case, and when I got back, there was another card through the door, from Interlink, who are next door to Amtrak!  I would have gone up there again today, but want to be here if possible for the CCL delivery, as that is the vast majority of what I need to get started, otherwise, knowing the way my luck is going, it would mean a third trip up there on Saturday.

Of course, the way things are going, I'm fully expecting to sit in all day, and the goods won't arrive, or they will come when I have to go out for 40 minutes this afternoon.

Jinxed??  Me??  

[Tony]

Well CCl gear arrived at 11.30 am, guy had a parcel under his arm, sign here mate. He was a Southerner with a goatee beard, straight away I thought ayup, lock yer pigeons up and keep the wippet in awhuse till he's gone  

I realised even if Doctor Who was working in CCL's 'Goods Out' department, you could not get the Midi ATX case in that parcel under his arm. Oh yes, your right there is a PC on the van for you. Of course it don't say it's only an empty case on the box, and he knew it was a delivery from a computer firm, oh hum as Simon would say. So I opened the parcel and checked the seals on all the boxes.

The hard drive, DVD drive and CD-RW drives came very well packed and cushioned, from damage. Happen as well because they, and the individual boxes containing the modem and the CPU, were just loose in a sealed CityLink plaggy bag!!!! Unlike Dabs and Novatech who pack the individual boxed components in a bigger box that is filled with cushioning material.  But that said they are in perfect condition visually.


Simon, the luck your having mate, don't even go to the toilet till the order arrives.  

[Camstop]

I'm just loving this new project guys... Tony..your quality mate... ...but i just cant stop thinking about these guys when i'm reading this thread..... 8)

[Simon]

Call me impatient    but I rang CCL just to check it is on it's way, which they confirmed (no I didn't ask what they'd sent - that would spoil the fun!), and gave me CitiLink's number, which I duely rang about 12:45.  "He will be with you in about 20 minutes, Sir", was the reply... and it's just arrived!!  

Contain your suspense... be right back!!  

[Simon]

 Well, it's all here, all nicely packaged, and all correct as per phone call, so no duplicate hard drive.

Surprisingly enough, CitiLink had got their act together, and the Maxtor (40Gb) from Watford came in the same consignment.

So, all in all I have to say I'm quite impressed with CCL.  Had I chosen all 'in stock' items, I would have got the delivery the next day, and they were also one of the cheapest, only being beaten by Dabs, but Dabs do not seem to supply OEM Operating Systems.  Redstore came very close, but did not have the Lite-On CDRW.

So now for the interesting bit, to delve into the case - where's those plasters??    

Happy Bunny, Sussex.  

[Tony]

I'm just loving this new project guys... Tony..your quality mate... ...but i just cant stop thinking about these guys when i'm reading this thread..... 8)


 

Well I just pi88ed myself when I clicked that link, cammy but your dead right  

[Tony]

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM Simon,

LOOK a nice beige case, and no bloooood, I'll show you the Front USB and Audio ports......when my batteries recharge  

The quality is miles in front of that case I bought for the same money from Novatech. You could build battleships out of the steel they use for this case, and no sharp edges either   Think I'll have loads of screws left over though, I'll photo them and all  

You press studs into the back of the Mobo then slide it in to those slots on the back plate.Then you just pop two screws in those two studs you can see mid back plate in line with the top PCI slot.

No cheap tinny knock outs to cut your pinkies on   for the PCI slots neither, nice shiny blanking plates come in a seperate box...mmmmmmmmmmmm you'd have loved this case Simon  

[Simon]

I certainly picked the wrong case, didn't I?  

Well, I'll be starting on it tonight, so who knows where this will lead!  NURSE!  THE PLASTERS!!

I think I might order that case, just to sit and look at it, Tony.  

By the way, can anyone recommend a decent monitor?  Max £120 (ish).

[Tony]

What about this one Simon... from "cough" CCL only £84.60 for a 17" 0.24mm Dot Pitch Triniton screen [my Dells are Trinitons, bloody crisp graphics and sharp print]

Look my mate only lives about three miles away, I'll have him pop in if you like. And if he says they are good, they must be, because he's a registered blind person...............well if he isn't he bloody should be

[Simon]

Thanks mate, but too late!  Impulsive??  You know me!  Actually I chatted briefly to our Master and resident round techie, who found a good review of the  17" CTX Monitor EX710F, so that's the one I went for, at CCL.  Hopefully it will be here Monday, as it's in stock, but that might be wishful thinking.  Probably Tuesday, which would suit, as that's the day my mate has off, and we hoped to do the installation then.

[Tony]

Well I would have gone for that one as well because I spend alot of time [as you know] on the PC. It's TCO99 rated, meaning it is for commercial use, ie: for peeps peering at it for 8 hours or more a day in the office. Monitors for casual home use dont have to meet the same standards, so I just thought you could save a bob or two, I mean you must be way over your budget by now  :'(

PS: is that another £7.50 down the swanny then in P&P   Simon just a thought, you don't teach Business Studies by any chance

[Tony]

Batteries charged Simon.......

FRONT

mmmnice

lookat the a*se on that

mobo

A really well put together case with a 350watt PSU for £30

[Simon]

All I can say is B&^%&CKS!!  

I'm just having a breather too.  Started at 8:30, and got all the bits in, just need to start connecting up now.  One bloody stupid design fault with the Asus Mobo (apart from the Quick Start Guide being in every language apart from English!!) is that the connector for the chassis fan is right over the other side of the board to the fan, thus meaning that the wire barely reaches, and renders two of the PCI slots out of commission.  I suppose I'll have to get another chassis fan with a longer lead.  The only way it fits at the moment is to run the lead underneath the gphx card (see pic).

Apart from that, and more blood, all seems to be going to plan.

[Tony]

looking good Simon, considering what you bought  

Bloody silly that, putting the fan connector at the far end of the board. And the Drive connectors are tight on the HDD assembly, or is it just the angle of the dangle that makes it look like that.

On my ASRock the USB headers for the front of the case are just above the AGP slot right at the back, but the cables are just long enough.

Picture not right good, I took a couple with the flash, but they came out crap. Too close I suppose, but my office is in the downstairs loo, and I have to sit on the carzie to take photo's  

http://www.tonysugrue.co.uk/mobo2.JPG

Why dont you just solder some extensions onto that fan cable Simon.

[Simon]

Why dont you just solder some extensions onto that fan cable Simon.

Because I haven't got a soldering iron, and have never used one in my life!  

I have another problem - after it failing to detect the Hard Drive, until I realised I needed to swap the jumper on the CD Rom    I tried loading W2K Pro on to it, but it gets to the Formatting Partition stage (please wait...), and doesn't go any further.  I waited at least 30 minutes, and it was still on 0% formatted.  There was no sound coming from the HD, but the light was on permanently.  I had to just switch it off in the end, as I need to get to bed.  Any ideas would be helpful.